A million-dollar concept by a university student in the United Kingdom has created waves on the internet: he is selling pixels to advertisers for $1 each.
The Million Dollar Homepage was developed by a 21-year-old student, Alex Tew, to pay for his university fees. Three weeks after he launched the website, he wrote in a blog that he had already raised his entire tuition fee.
He enrolled at Nottingham University in October to study business management and will probably be a millionaire before the end of this year.
The website contains one million pixels and sells at least 100 pixels at a time. Every pixel costs $1. Everyone can buy pixels to advertise on the site, paying at least $100 for the minimum of 100 pixels. Once a visitor clicks on the advert, a new window will open and redirect the visitor to the business’ homepage.
It has already attracted many businesses and most of them have reported success since they bought pixels on Tew’s website.
“I had this little idea the other day. I was trying to think of interesting ways to make some cash before going to uni (which is in about a month’s time) and somehow this crazy thought entered my head: I’ll try and make a million dollars by selling 1 000 000 pixels, for $1 each, ” wrote Tew in his online blog a few months ago.
The site has now sold 889 000 pixels since it was conceived in August this year, with Tew’s brother being one of his first customers.
The site looks colourful and busy, covered in small advertisements with nothing in between. It also contains a blog and testimonials.
In the testimonials Tew published on his website, Will Marston, MD of Lollipop Animation in the United Kingdom, said: “Our hits have quadrupled, and our sales have gone through the roof. We only bought pixel space for a bit of fun, but now it’s as though we’re a part of internet history.”
However, Tew hasn’t allowed himself to get caught up with his fortune. According to an article on Timesonline.co.uk, he still lives in student digs at university and many of his colleagues are not aware that he is the million-dollar guy.
In his latest blog posting about Christmas shopping for his family, he said: “It’ll be nice to get them all something decent … I’ve been skint in previous years, so it is time to make up for that!”